Monday, February 23, 2009

One of TFE's long time readers Amir once sent me an email tip about an Anne Hathaway appearance. He said "I know she's in your second circle corps right now" which made me laugh heartily. I'd never labelled it but it was totally true. Second Circle Corps. I love it.

My love for Ms. Hathaway just keeps on growing. I'd heard that she had some musical theater training but it was such a delight to see her use it in that Frost/Nixon musical number with Hugh Jackman. She started with feigned embarrassment, glided right into good humored 'I'll play along' talk/sing until she finally caved with great humor into hammy Broadway belting. I just watched it again. I will watch it many times. Love Love Love.

nate -- hey with these two even! (although i don't like remakes that much)

anon -- you won't hear any disagreement from me that actresses of color have a harder time (and I've complained about that many times) but that shouldn't negate the talents of white actresses. Anne was GREAT in Rachel Getting Married and everything I hoped she would be given that when watching brokeback mountain there was many hints to future greatness but when someone is just starting to step it up it's tough to know how much is the director and how much was intentional and so on and so on.

I think she more than proved with RGM that she can be one of the great leading ladies of the next decade. That was not a simple performance. it was all kinds of layered, backstory suggestions, complicated mood constructions and quick wit. I think she was the best of the nominees.

I was all about Melissa Leo of the five they nominated, but I certainly rated Anne Hathaway's work this year. I had her in sixth, and beat myself up that I just couldn't find room for her behind Hawkins, Leo, Scott Thomas, Winslet (Revolutionary, rather than Reader) and Binoche.

P.S. Anon - I'm quite sure that there are many more talented actresses out there of every ethnic background that we don't get to see, and that's a tragedy. But we surely can't disparage an actress for taking opportunities offered to her, irrespective of whether or not those opportunities are open to others.

There are many reasons to get mad at Hollywood, but the success of a talent like Anne surely can't, in all good conscience, be one of them.

I would love to see Anne in the My Fair Lady remake, but do we remember that amateurish British accent she donned in Becoming Jane? It wouldn't be such a big deal but since the was movie is all about accents and speaking properly, me thinks it may not be wise to cast her.

Nat, I am going crazy waiting for you to comment on the best actress presentation. 1/3 of the NINE!!! Dear lord man. And I just loved how the crowd just ate it up. The definite highlight of the night for me.

she is insufferable in person. Way too self-congratulatory and lame funny however, I felt her annoying qualities worked to her advantage in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED as they suited the character. But as for her phone call in Brokeback? Please. It's called subtlety Anne. Haha but she did look gorgeous last night.

@ anon 5:20- I think Annie is very talented (maybe more than Julia, there's no way she could've done that). Have you see Rachel Getting Married? If u HAVE to be angry I would suggest u direct u anger towards someone more worthy like Jessica Beil. Why was she there?

@ anon 5:45

I think so too. Shakespeare In Love Part 2. Next year's victim...Shutter Island.

Before the haters skewer me, let me argue this one: She doesn't have the voice down, but she resembles her a little in the nose and eyes (make-up can do wonders), and she can certainly project wonderful vitality along with tortured addiction. We haven't seen her perform mimicry yet, but it's not like that is challenging for a good actor.

Mostly this stems from the fact that when I picture Hathaway in a musical, I can't help but see her recreating scenes from Cabaret.

Anne definitely has a Julie Andrews thing going on. I'd like to see her and Amy Adams together in some kind of Disney musical thing.

She's not my favorite... she has this weird insecure/strident sort of vibe that I can't quite put my finger on. But it puts me off a bit. Still, she's certainly proven her talent in these past few years, and she's a likeable celebrity. I hope her career continues to flourish.

To co-opt your comment about anne's annoying qualities working in favor of Kim as a character, I would argue that these same qualities would work very favorably for a Liza portrayal. Corny, overly theatrical, attention-seeking.

And Toni Collette totally should have dibs on any Liza movies (aside from remakes of Cabaret, which just shouldn't be done at all).

And if they do Wicked, why can't it just be Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel? They've both done movies before. It's not that big of a stretch. And they're very famous for playing those parts onstage. EVERYbody knows Wicked.

I used to not like Anne, at all. Her personality was off putting, and her work in The Devil Wears Prada, Becoming Jane, and Brokeback Mountain was extremely disappointing. She's bringing me in more, though, and she was just delightful at the Oscars.

Um...she already made a semi-musical film called Ella Enchanted. She has more than musical training. She did some musicals in New Jersey before acting in movies. She did one of the best Encores concerts--Carnival!--opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell. She should have been cast in Nine but her voice might have put some of the other actresses in that film to shame.

re: the Wicked comments, I think that if there was ever to be a Wicked movie it should be a faithful adaptation of the novel and not the musical. That would confuse the hell out of all the tween girls, and punish them for making Twilight successful. Or, both versions could be released around the same time, and even though musical-Wicked earns about 1000 times more, faithful-Wicked has the moral upper ground of actually being good.

1. Hey, I'll defend Hathaway hating. I thought she was generally the worst thing about her movies (that I saw). In fact, in her "youth" roles (Elle Enchanted/Princess Diaries, though I only saw one), I would've ranked Lindsay Lohan ahead of her in terms of acting talent.

But she blew me away in RGM. Whatever it is about Kym that hit home for her struck me very hard. It was a terrific, difficult, high-wire act that I'm still surprised she pulled off.

2. A musical for Anne? How about APPLAUSE? Or COMPANY, where she gets to play one of the stewardesses to Hugh Jackman's Bobby, with Richard Linklater directing.

Considering they're making another Judy Garland movie I doubt a Liza Minnelli bio is coming any time soon.

LOVING Anne at the moment. She's one of the only people to come along who will be a legitimate genuine movie star. So many you can tell will fade away once the teen girls and boys grow up, but Anne will be hanging around. It helps that she's gorgeous in an nonthreatening way ala, yes yes, Julia Roberts.

Adam, My Fair Lady may have been a great movie in the 1950s but it's fairly torturous today. I had to turn it off, actually. Same for the Thoroughly Modern Millie movie they made. And I only help watching Sweet Charity to the end because it was Fosse and the musical numbers were excellent. Something about that period of music(als) for me just... gives me the irrits.

Nate, I agree with you about Cabaret. I've think a remake of Cabaret, the stage version (not the movie version), could be as big as Chicago. The music is so great and to have it produced with today's technology and talent would be such a treat. Up to now I was thinking Catherine Zeta Jones or Lauren Graham for the role of Sally. However, watching Hugh and Anne at the Oscars I now think that there's the winning duo!